MTN and others accused of supporting Taliban in Afghanistan

Mobile operator MTN said it is reviewing the details of a report claiming that it violated the US Anti-Terrorism Act by supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan. 

MTN Group Limited, formerly M-Cell, is a South African multinational mobile telecommunications company operating in many African, European and Asian countries. 

Complaint filed against MTN and others 

According to BusinessDay, a complaint has been filed in the District of Columbia, claiming that several western businesses were involved – allegedly by making payments to ensure the protection of their infrastructure.

In addition to MTN, the complaint names the London-headquartered G4S Holdings International and its subsidiaries; the Florida company Centerra Group; the Maryland company DAI Global; the Tennessee firm Janus Global Operations; Kansas firm Black & Veatch Special Projects; and the Canadian company Louis Berger Group and its subsidiaries and affiliates. 

The claim has been filed on behalf of civilians and the families of American service members, who were killed or wounded in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2017.

MTN ready to defend their position 

MTN said it was consulting its advisers, but remains of the view that it conducts its business in a responsible and compliant manner in all its territories.

The company said it would defend its position where necessary.

 A whopping 400 claimants 

According to the Washington-based Courthouse News Service, the claimants total almost 400 – all claiming unspecified damages.

“Defendants supported the Taliban for a simple reason: Defendants were all large western companies with lucrative businesses in post-9/11 Afghanistan, and they all paid the Taliban to refrain from attacking their business interests,” according to the complaint cited by the news service.

“Those protection payments aided and abetted terrorism by directly funding an al-Qaeda-backed Taliban insurgency that killed and injured thousands of Americans.”

Paying off the Taliban 

The payments allegedly climbed as high as 40% of the value of the company’s project and were often facilitated through sub-contractors.

The subcontractors, such as private security firms that were known to pay off the Taliban, would sometimes send money through Afghanistan’s traditional money transfer network, which can be hard to trace. Other times, the companies would simply hire Taliban operatives to work as guards.

“Defendants decided that buying off the terrorists was the most efficient way to operate their businesses while managing their own security risks – even though doing so jeopardised other American lives,” said the report. 

Who are the Taliban? 

The Taliban or Taleban, who refer to themselves as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist political movement and military organisation in Afghanistan currently waging war within that country.

It was founded on 10 October 1994 and since 2016, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada has been the leader of the Taliban.